Diana Sommerville, lost her father and brother Jeremy so close together. She’s headed home to London to only find out her brother left his share of the family wealth, diamond mines and the house to his friend and her former fiancée Rupert Lacey. She now finds her home has been invaded by the man she used to love and now loathes already settled in. The two need to decide if they can figure out how best way to continue or end this new relationship, but first they need to work out their issues with each other. Rupert expected Diana to be mad at the situation and the battle of wills begins when she arrives. You’ll enjoy the banter between them Rupert sets out to annoy Diana with the new power he has over her life and her home, and Diana has drawn the line in the sand so to speak on where she stands and he’s not to cross the lines. The attraction is still as strong as ever, but can these two be honest and finally discover what torn them apart and find their HEA!!

Tempt Me with Diamonds by Jane Feather is book One in the London Jewels Series. This is the story of Rupert Lacey and Diana Sommerville. Rupert and Diana were once engaged to be married but things happened along with a misunderstanding. Diana has been away but in now returning to the family home after her father and brother have passed away. What Diana finds is that her brother Jem has left half of Somerville estate and everything else in halves to Rupert. So a standoff of sorts starts with both not giving a inch and putting forth a battle that will surly end with their happiness.

This is the first book in a new series, taking place in England in the early 1900s, following the end of the Boor Wars.

Colonel Rupert Lacey had been orphaned at the age of 4, and sent to live with his only living relative, his grandfather, who ignored the boy until he was old enough to send him off to school. There he became best friends with Jem Summerville, and the Summervilles embraced him as part of their family. At the time, Diana Summerville was only 8 years old, but as they grew older, their relationship changed and eventually they became engaged. The Summervilles had made their fortune in the diamond mines, so Jem Summerville felt it his duty to sign up to fight, and as his best friend Rupert Lacey had joined him. A misunderstanding, pride and stubbornness had Diana break off their engagement, but Jem had high hopes that they would reunite, so wrote a will, splitting his inheritance between the two of them, never expecting to be killed in battle. Diana returns to London, not knowing about the will and is shocked to find Rupert entrenched in her home. Rupert knew what Jem had done and refuses to move out or sell out, hoping to win Diana's heart back. To avoid the scandal of two singles sharing the same house, he suggests for the meantime to allow people to believe that they were in married as planned in South Africa. The passion between them is still there. Can they open up to each other, or will they allow pride and hurt stand in the way?

I received a free ARC from NetGalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review. Wonderful characters, a compelling plot and artfully written narrative make this a enticing read.

This could only be considered a good romance if your secret jam is when 100% of the tension comes because the romantic interests refuse to talk to each other. Absolutely all of the drama could have been avoided with a few honest conversations. Relationships are hard, but if you shoot yourself in the foot with this kind of frequency, no wonder you aren't getting anywhere in your love life.

Set in the glamorous world of London in 1903, this book follows Diana Sommerville as she returns to her native England from South Africa, where both her father and her brother died, leaving her whole possession of the wealthy family's gold and diamond mines as well as their English properties. Or so she thinks.

It's a rude shock in more ways than one to find Colonel Rupert Lacey, her former fiance, comfortably ensconced in her house in London. An even ruder shock to find out her brother left his half of the Sommerville legacy to Rupert, forcing Diana to share everything she owns with a man she'd prefer to never lay eyes on again.

It was so, so hard to feel any sympathy whatsoever for Diana, as she lamented her woes to her friends over champagne and caviar. Or as she petulantly attempted to define which areas of the house belonged to whom. She acted like a child drawing a line on the playroom floor and refusing to share her toys.

On the other hand, Rupert also did an excellent job of making me thoroughly dislike him. His autocratic attitude and determination to annoy Diana just because he had the power to do so made me want to give him a good smack in the mouth. And as for his blaming her for a lack of trust when he'd given her no reason to trust him? Refusing to answer perfectly legitimate questions when she'd been given pertinent information by trustworthy people, including her own brother… and Jem was no prize either. Fancy telling your sister that her fiance, your best friend, might have a mistress and child and then leaving her to deal with it! Why didn't Jem confront Rupert on Diana's behalf? Not much of a loving brother in my book, never mind the invidious position he left her in regarding the inheritance. Which shouldn't have even happened, since Diana's brother predeceased her father and you can't leave a future potential inheritance to anyone anyway.

There was so much that annoyed me about these characters, and that's before we even get into the forced kisses and the angry hate sex. This reads so much like an Old Skool romance from the 70s I went to check the Goodreads page to see if it's a reissue, but apparently not. Maybe the author found it lying around in a bottom drawer somewhere and handed it in to satisfy a publisher's desire for new material? In which case the editor who didn't send it back to the 1970s is to blame for this atrocity. In the year 2019, romance readers expect and deserve better than this misogynistic rubbish. One star.

Is there a plethora or historical romances recently? or perhaps and more truly I am emerging from a long hiatus and reading more of this genre. Ms. Feather is also an author that I have not read in a long time but I definitely recommend this contemporary style novel full of sparkling wit and angst set against a historical time period.
Rupert Lacey has been an extended family member of the Sommerville's since college days got him away from his troubled childhood. It seemed inevitable that Rupert and Diana would make a match of it until the day Diana broke his trust and broke their engagement. Now things have changed. Rupert has inherited half the Sommerville estate upon the death of Diana's beloved brother. Diana is definitely not a happy camper when she comes back from Africa to find Rupert comfortably ensconced in the Somerville London town home enjoying her dead brother's bounty. She definitely did not expect Rupert to mount a determined campaign to woo her back.
As Diana plots and solicits the help of her friends and trusty retainers, Rupert schemes to foil her schemes and win her back. It's a bit ironic that the two of them pretend to be married in order to live together without censure from London society even as the plots and counterplots keep the reader entertained. I do like how the author brings it all together allowing Diana and Rupert to visit the painful moments that broke both their hearts.
All in all a great start to what portends to be a delightful trilogy.

Tempt Me With Diamonds by Jane Feather. Diana Sommerville is very wealthy thanks to her family owning a diamond mine abroad. She was engaged to Rupert Lacey but because of a disagreement that left him thinking she didn’t trust him, they went their separate ways. He went overseas to fight with Diana’s brother who is also his best friend. When her brother is killed in battle, Rupert comes home to find out that his best friend left him his share of his estate. Diana finds out when she comes home from South Africa and he is already there. She demands he get out of her house and he suggests she see her family’s lawyer Mr. Muldoon. When she finds out about the inheritance, sparks fly. A good story watching her try to be two steps ahead of him, as well as, why her brother left his share to Rupert.. I received a free copy from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Jane Feather is a force in historical romance. I have read many of her stories they are so true to historical settings and characters that seemed alive. Tempt Me With Diamonds is not different. But the two main characters are at such odds even though deep down, you know they will eventually come around to their true feelings that have been tampered down.
Coming from a family of wealth, Diana seems to have it all until her fiance' Rupert goes off to war with her brother, Jem. Unfortunately her brother was killed and in a twist of fate, he leaves his estate to his sister and his best friend Jem. How bad could that be you say? Well they parted not on good terms when he left for war and as he returns and they end up sharing the house together, everything comes apart.
Betrayal, angst and anger seem to control their reunion and it appears the rift may never be broached! There was so much back and forth between the two and Diana seemed determined to be make them both miserable.
Can these two ever find peace and come together? An intense story that will keep you reading until the end!!

Despite owning several books by this author, I realized that this is the first work of hers that I've read. I'll admit that it was a rough start for me. The head-hopping in the first chapter was confusing enough to almost make me put the book down (and it *was* enough for me to post a general question about the topic of head-hopping in one of the reader groups I belong to). Admittedly, the head-hopping got better/less prevalent as the book progressed, so I'm not sure if it was a result of the author trying to establish the tone of the book and the nature of the characters and once that was done, it was not as “necessary” (inasmuch as it’s ever necessary that much - which it’s not!).

There was some usage of obscure vocabulary words that I'm not sure would have even used by the elite of British Victorian/Edwardian England. Even if they were, given that this is a book published in 2019, I feel like some of that could have been toned down a little.

Rupert was a war veteran dealing with some guilt over some of his wartime decisions, but that wasn't really explored as much as it could have been (a missed opportunity for exploring the topic of PTSD?). Diana was headstrong and independent and while I admired that she was written to be this way, I also felt that she and Rupert were also depicted acting more like petulant teenagers instead of the adults that they were. Frankly, the relationship between them was confusing. I absolutely LOVE a good enemies-to-lovers (or in this case lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers) - the sexual tension can be delicious - but for some reason, their relationship didn't tick of those boxes for me.

The book also felt as if it wrapped up things rather quickly given the “obstacles” presented all the complaints from both Diana and Rupert about each other’s behavior. It was like one minute they were at each other’s throats and the next, they shrugged and said, “no biggie - lets spend the rest of our lives together.”

It’s no secret this is the first in a trilogy and you do get some teasers and tidbits of the other stories. Will I check them out? Maybe (reader OCD is real).

*eARC provided by the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.*

Tempt Me With Diamonds is the first book in the London Jewels Trilogy by Jane Feather and is set in England in 1902, after the Boer War.

Diana Sommerville returns to England from South Africa after losing her brother, Jem, in the war and her father thereafter. She learns that her brother has bequeathed his share of the family estate to Rupert Lacey, a fellow soldier and Diana's former lover and fiance. Diana had broken her engagement when Rupert clammed up when she asked about some gossip regarding his past. The former lovers wind up living together while letting society believe they are married.

Feather writes well, but the potential of the book wasn't realized. Both Diana and Rupert were not the most likable characters, and I found myself skipping through the chapters. While we get a HEA, it is not completely believable.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Diana and Rupert find themselves at odds after a broken engagement and then being forced to share the same house. Worst of all they have to pretend to be married. Every time they fight they seem to end up tangled passionately in bed. They finally realize there is no escaping their fate of being husband and wife in truth.

Colonel Rupert Lacey’s best friend, Jeremy Sommerville, died in South Africa leaving him half of everything in Jeremy’s parents’ estate. The other half goes to Jeremy’s sister Diana, who at one time was engaged to Rupert. The estate consists of properties, homes, gold and diamond mines and a race horse. When Diana returns to London from South Africa, she is shocked to realize she must share things with Rupert. Part of her anger is not knowing exactly how her brother died and something else Rupert refuses to talk about.

They decide that sharing the house may scandalize her elderly aunt and others, so they pretend to have married in S. Africa. However, they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. Her best friends, Fenella and Petra, are sympathetic to her but have no problems with their arrangement. Diana and Rupert get along, but there is always something keeping them from admitting they love each other. He finally gives up and moves out, but that doesn’t make her happy. Of course, there is a HEA and my favorite quote from Fenella: “To the most unromantic but perfectly matched couple that ever was.” I’m looking forward to Fenella and Petra having HEAs.

At the beginning of this book we meet Diana, a woman who is grieveing the loss of her father and her brother. We also meet Rupert, who has inherited the entire estate of Diana's brother. Rupert is also the ex fiance of Diana. Sparks fly when neither is willing to give up the family home or share amicably.

Questions of “why” keep the reader turning pages to find the answers and all is resolved in the end. I enjoyed this book with a real feel for the late Victorian time period with mention of steam ships, trains and restaurant nights of entertainment. We are glimpsed the African Boer War and it's legacy.

The characters are well drawn. Diana is a product of a footloose childhood and a wealthy family. Rupert is from a neglected childhood but he is also from a gentry background. This book is not about aristocrats but about the wealthy merchant class. It was refreshing to read a book that sets the reader down into the historical era. I liked Diana and her friends Petra and Finella (heroines in future books in this series) but Found Rupert to be rather a bully at times. I kept thinking that these two were not a good matrimonial match. They had many stubborn arguments each unwilling to yield and a strong inability to understand each other. Lust seemed to be their strongest bond. It was a good read and I recommend it.

Just the right amounts of conflict, intrigue and sex makes this a quick read. Jane has a way of making you feel like you're in the story.

I was hooked into the drama of the story right from the first page. The characters of Rupert and Diana are really well written. But as the story progressed, I was frustrated about the constant flip flopping of Diana’s personality. Either she wanted Rupert or not and towards the end of the novel I almost felt like screaming, make a choice already! In some ways I felt a little bad for Rupert but then it’s not as if he wasn’t at fault for forcing Diana to stay with him. This novel started so well that I had high expectations from it and was disappointed with the rest of the book.

* I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review*

I love second chance romance and have been on a roll lately with reading so many. This is a lovely story of misunderstanding, reuniting and coming to realize that love will win out. Both Rupert and Diana learn from their past mistakes and seeing them realize that you cannot always believe what you hear made this story kind of sad but also uplifting. I loved it.

Jane Feather’s latest romance takes one of my least favorite tropes and turns it into a delightful interplay between two very likable characters.
Normally the “miscommunication” novel annoys me beyond measure. All of the problems between the hero and heroine could be resolved by a good rousing fight where both of them lay their positions on the table, but it takes two hundred tedious pages for them to actually talk to each other.
In “Tempt Me With Diamonds”, it is clear from the beginning that Rupert and Diana need to talk, but they both know it, and the both are trying, in their own ways, to bridge the gap that has arisen between them. Engaged to be married, and with that engagement broken before the story even starts, Rupert and Diana find themselves thrown together by Diana’s dead brother’s will, which leaves his property to his best friend. The couple are clearly not reluctant to have a second chance, but figuring out how to seize that chance, and rebuild their relationship makes for a engaging read.

I have read many of Jane Feathers books before and thoroughly enjoyed them. But I have to say I was very disappointed in this story.
I thought the two main characters, Diane and Rupert were acting like two children having a temper tantrum through out the story.
And just when I thought they were starting to act like adults, by talking out their differences, their problems, the book ends. I was shocked.
The story had so much potential but just didn't get there.

2.5 stars

Diana Sommerville and Rupert Lacey have a past, and that is exactly where Diana would like to keep things between them - in the past. She arrives home from South Africa after losing both her brother and father to find that her former fiancée is living in her family home. She learns that her brother Jem named Rupert his heir and now owns half of the Somerville estate, including shares in a diamond mine, properties in England and a race horse.

Rupert didn't expect Diana would be overjoyed to learn that he was now going to be a permanent fixture in her life, but he is still a little surprised how angry she is. He refuses her offer to buy him out and refuses to leave the house. He says that they were engaged when she left for South Africa and never told anyone she broke with him, so they will live together as husband and wife to prevent scandal. Secretly, Rupert hopes his close proximity and forced cohabitation, will rekindle their love.

Diana is beyond furious and feels betrayed by her brother. She is unhappy and she won't make this transition easy for Rupert, nor will she forgive him for not fighting for them, when she broke their engagement. Is their love still alive? Can they both move beyond the hurts of the past or is their reunion doomed?

I really wanted to love this story, but a confusing timeline, a "I hate you / I want you" relationship and a just plain spoiled and nasty heroine ruined the book for me. It is well written, has steamy love scenes and Rupert, while far from perfect, is a mostly likable hero. But I just couldn't get past Diana's attitude and her underhandedness, I understood her anger and even accepted that she might feel betrayed, but instead of empathizing, I found myself thinking she was being unreasonable and childish. There were also some storylines that felt like they were dropped (however, this is the first book in the series and those things might be mentioned or resolved in future books), I am also relatively sure the ending couldn't have happened the way it was written, because of Lord Brougham's "Cooling Off" Act of 1856 and this book is set in 1902.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

Wealthy heiress, Diana Sommerville, both beautiful and intelligent has finally returned home after overseeing her family’s diamond mines and taking care of her beloved brothers remains who had been killed in the Boar Wars in Africa. She wanted peace and solitude when she arrived at her family home, but instead she found to her horror that Rupert Lacey, the man she once loved and now loathed had moved in before her return and intended to stay!

Rupert Lacey had grown up with Diana and her brother. They were best friends and Diana was going to marry Rupert until she discovered that he had been unfaithful. However, her brother, unbeknownst to her, had left a will naming Rupert his beneficiary to share Diana’s wealth and home.

*** One can imagine the scenario’s that commenced when Diana was faced with the fact that her beloved brother had left his shares of diamond mines, a prize race horse, and her family home and properties to her former fiance! Try as she might, legally there was nothing Diana could do to wrest control from Rupert! Worse, most people assumed they had married while abroad and to keep herself from utter ruin while living in the same house, Diana had to pretend they were man and wife.

Try as she might, Diana was not immune to Rupert and the passion that existed between them sizzled. It would take honesty and truth to set them free to love again which is exactly what they each wanted should these two stubborn souls admit to themselves.

Great story - fast read and paced well!

Marilyn Rondeau